


Gifts of the Changing Moon

by Tikor



Series: Castebook: Changing Moon [7]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Artifacts, Gen, Lunars, Mechanics, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 10:09:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12909723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: The magical tools, tricks, and places particular to the Changing Moons.





	1. Artifacts and Evocations

**Author's Note:**

> See our [mechanical notes section on shapeshifting.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12548572/chapters/29497194)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tools to command the hearts of men and to defend one's Territory.

To synchronize one’s self to the soul of another requires a change in one’s self. To accept a tool into one’s life is to change what is possible, and will color how one perceives problems, as well as what solutions one will jump to. The Changing Moons are keenly aware of these changes, so they approach their panoply of Artifacts with care. They make what changes they want or need to make, and they leave behind those that are no longer to their benefit.

 **Silver Light Cross, Moonsilver Clothing**  
Artifact 2  
  
This Artifact is a series of moonsilver strings with diamond-shaped apertures between each set of strings, covering the wearer's entire body, head to hands to feet. Attuning to Silver Light Cross resizes it perfectly to the wearer's shape and has the benefit that it will always cover (or uncover) exactly what the Lunar wishes by her will alone. It can be worn over clothing or by itself, though it defaultly covers very little of the wearer. It has an enchanting sheen to it, dazzling onlookers with the sensual fluidity it grants its wearer's movements and bearing.

This simple Artifact is the manufacture of the Second Age, an early work by Seven Devils Clever. She wears it about Nexus to enhance her dealings there, and has been developing a reputation as a minor spirit of courtesans through her excellent selection of partners for desires her clientele might not even have known they had. She does nothing to contradict this misconception as it keeps her true nature behind one more veil of misdirection, but the Cult she has begun to gain from it may draw enough attention to cancel out any benefit.

Silver Light Cross increases the wearer's Appearance by 1, up to the normal maximum, and this does increase the Lunar's dice caps. The Silver Light Cross costs 7m to attune.

 **Lunar Evocations:**  
Evocation Name: Twinkle Draws the Eye  
Cost: 7m  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Psyche  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

When wearing Silver Light Cross others may stare, covet, envy or avoid the sparkles that the moonsilver elicits from lights of any kind, but what very few can do is ignore them. The wearer may enhance any Read Intentions action with her relative Appearance as if it were a Persuade action (thus counting as non-Charm bonuses). Successful read Intentions actions that have been enhanced by this Evocation always additionally reveal the target's sexual orientation even if this is not their intention in the scene or an Intimacy on their character sheet. Further, ignore any restrictions from previous Read Intentions actions taken by the wearer earlier in the scene not enhanced by Twinkle Draws the Eye.

If any other Evocations exist for Silver Light Cross, Seven Devils Clever has not learned of them.

 **Bull’s Horn, Moonsilver Reaver Daiklave**  
Artifact 3  
  
Crafted by Tamuz’ own hand, the Bull’s Horn’s soul reflects its maker’s. It reflects his obsession with readiness, allowing him to shortcut the months-long and risky process of trust-building and camaraderie mixed with ample combat experience the Elite troops share with one another and simply jump them up to that level with Artifice. When readied, the Bull’s Horn can inspire any ragtag group of peasants into a perfectly coordinated fighting force. Replace a unit’s drill with Elite when Tamuz gives a command to a unit by waving Bull’s Horn about. This enhancement to Drill lasts until Tamuz’ next action. Tamuz rarely uses the Bull’s Horn in this way, since he hasn’t entered the battlefield as the commander of anything less than Elite troops in centuries. Still, the capability that he could gives him peace of mind when going to war.

The Daiklave itself has a reaver’s shape, broad and flat, easily seen and distinguished by its hollow center on the battlefield. Closer inspection shows two halves of the moon, one light, one dark, stamped shallowly below the moonsilver surface, spread across the gap in the blade. Each moon has a socket fit for a Heathstone. Tamuz swings it in both his human form and when enhanced by his Deadly Beastman Transformation, though in that warform the massive blade looks much more proportional swinging its bulk single-handedly, killing with both bladed sides.

The Bull’s Horn is currently in Tamuz’ possession, but as a Lunar of the Silver Pact, he has been known to reward retrieval packs and Wyld packs with items of similar value.

 **Lunar Evocations:**  
Evocation Name: Collective Flaws  
Cost: 3m  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Battlegroup  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

The soul of the Bull’s Horn knows what makes men fight as a single unit… and thus it knows what actions can drive them apart. Communion with the Bull’s Horn can grant the attuner the ability to tap into that knowledge, being able to see any unit as a mess of individuals, and slay them that way. Ignore Defense bonuses due to Drill when striking a battlegroup with Bull’s Horn supplemented with this Evocation, and also ignore soak bonuses due to that battlegroup’s size. However, using this Evocation carries the drawback that the totality of the army cannot be assaulted. Any damage that would overflow into the next Size’s Magnitude track is lost.

 **Parliament of Rooks, Moonsilver Long Powerbow**  
Artifact 3  
  
Another of Tamuz’ creations, the Parliament of Rooks’ two halves have the dark and light motif of his panoply. The upper half is an argent-colored moonsilver, the lower half the same material but made to resemble the night sky. It stands taller than Tamuz’ true shape of a man, again proportioned to take advantage of the great gazelle hound’s warform, standing next to which Parliament of Rooks is slightly shorter. 

Infused with a martial soul, the Parliament of Rooks sees a commander and any battlegroup(s) she commands as a single unit due to the Essence of command they share with one another. When aiming at a commander or the battlegroup(s) she commands that are within short range of each other, Tamuz may choose which of the those targets to attack, freely changing the target of his aim between them at any time from the start of his aim action to the resulting attack.

 **Lunar Evocations:**  
Evocation Name: Leading Arrow  
Cost: 10m  
Minimums: Essence 2  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Battlegroup  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

No commander shoots one arrow when a thousand are needed. Thus they focus on command. But the Parliament of Rooks, when studied deeply, allows a commander to flawlessly split their focus, shooting one arrow followed by a thousand, the leading arrow’s Essence enhancing each shaft that follows.

Using Leading Arrow, Tamuz can shoot an arrow at a target, though this Charm provides no bonuses to that shot’s accuracy, damage, or any other attribute. Instead, using this Evocation provides a reflexive flurried command action that ignores flurry penalties to a single ranged unit that recognizes Tamuz’ command, commanding them to shoot the same target on their next action. Roll Appearance+War for the Command action, with the unit gaining dice pool bonuses as normal (3e Core page 210). The unit’s ranged attacks hit everything in close range of Tamuz’ target, as normal (3e Core page 208).

 **Honor of Meru’s Guardian, Moonsilver Reinforced Breastplate**  
Artifact 4  
  
Honor of Meru’s Guardian was given to Tamuz at the height of his notoriety as the Desert Hound of the Fair Folk by the powers in Meru. Taken out of the Vault of the Fallen Host, this reward served to praise Tamuz’ uncanny ability to track and defeat the Fae in marked contrast to contemporary generals who too often marched circles in chaos protecting nothing.

The previous owner was Meheret, a renowned Lunar artisan whose subtle and misdirection-based Artifacts complemented the design motif of the Mountain Folk’s more straightforward power. Meheret was so prolific in her lifetime that all of her subsequent Exaltations at the time of Tamuz’ award had claimed their due from her estate, but passed over this one that enhanced command, instead favoring more personal armors from that massive collection.

When wearing Honor of Meru’s Guardian on the battlefield, any battlegroup that sees Tamuz as a leader is guaranteed to take fewer casualties than normal when losing Magnitude. Instead, troops are wounded but alive, or driven off instead of slain. Effectively, even when Tamuz loses a battle or wins a pyrrhic victory, it rarely impacts his ability to keep fighting the war, as he can round up and treat his scattered and wounded fighters with minimal loss of their fighting strength and size by the next engagement. But the killing blows that his armies avoid have to land somewhere, and Tamuz assumes that responsibility. Each blow that reduces the Magnitude of any battlegroup that sees Tamuz as a leader is treated as a successful Decisive blow against the Lunar, with raw damage equal to the amount of Magnitude lost, subtracting the damaged battlegroup’s Might. Further, any such blow that reduces the battlegroup’s Size ignores Tamuz’ Hardness. 

This protection and sacrifice goes a long way toward securing the loyalty of the troops under Tamuz’ command. And towards keeping them alive through enough engagements to achieve Elite Drill status. The legend of the Honor of Meru’s Guardian is no small contributor to Tamuz’ fame in every Age he’s lived through. Though that very fame and fervent loyalty may have been seen as a threat to his powerful First Age mate Chiara and been part of the reason she commanded him away from the battlefield.

 **Lunar Evocations:**  
Evocation Name: Guardian’s Legend  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: Psyche  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

Through miraculous reversals of fate, through masterfully executed tactics, through reunions with brothers in arms thought dead or lost, the troops under Tammuz and his Honor of Meru’s Guardian know his legend. They know that even if their friends have fled the field that they will prevail. Even if their commander has taken a wound, he has done so in their defense. Devastating attacks may thin their numbers, but even gross displays of mystic might cannot dim their resolve. Unless the battle is rapidly deteriorating, Tamuz’ troops will hold fast. This confidence translates mechanically into ignoring the first difficulty modifier that would normally be applied to rout each round for any battlegroup that sees Tamuz as a leader and who has fought under his command at least once before.

Evocation Name: Guardian’s Rally  
Cost: 15m, 1wp  
Minimums: Essence 3  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Obvious, Psyche  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: Guardian’s Legend

Tamuz may draw upon the honorable soul sparked within the Essence of the moonsilver plate that protects both him and the battlegroups under his command. His troops understand, even if they’ve never seen Meru, that he fights with the sanction of Creation’s rightful rulers. That this battle plays its part, however small, in the very defense of Creation. Once per scene, Tamuz may supplement his rally for numbers action with Guardian’s Rally. He gains non-Charm successes to his [Charisma or Appearance+War] roll equal to the health levels he has lost due to Honor of Meru’s Guardian’s base damage redirection effect, even if he has somehow healed those wounds since they were inflicted (to a maximum of 10). Lastly, due to Honor of Meru’s Guardian's protection effect, rally for numbers actions supplemented with Guardian’s Rally _**can**_ increase a battlegroup’s Size. This Evocation has no natural reset condition within a scene.

Evocation Name: Guardian’s Restitution  
Cost: 25m, 2wp  
Minimums: Essence 5  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Obvious, Psyche  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: Guardian’s Rally

Even if all of Tamuz’ tricks have failed, even if his armies are faced with overwhelming odds, even if he miscalculated and was outmaneuvered, Tamuz may call upon Honor of Meru’s Guardian for a second chance. The overwhelming power of this Charm wipes the memory of the battle just lost from a battlegroup’s mind, uplifting their spirits and postponing the pains of their injuries, refocusing them on the fight at hand. Once per story, Tamuz may target a routed battlegroup that recognizes his command with a rally for numbers action supplemented by this Evocation. This [Charisma or Appearance+War] roll restores one point of Magnitude for _**each**_ success instead of for each two successes, and _**can**_ increase a battlegroup’s Size. Further, that battlegroup ignores any and all rout difficulty modifiers they have accumulated, resetting rout checks to base difficulty (usually 1). This Evocation has no natural reset condition within a story.


	2. Tattoo Artifacts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonders more skin than metal, singular and potent.

To a shapeshifter, weapons, tools, and armor fluid enough to keep up with their changes are highly valued. Many Changing Moons convince their tattooing elders to take the time and the energy to affix a Tattoo Artifact into their Moonsilver Tattoos if they happen to learn of them before they gain their Caste - just one more trial showing their social natures. Below are some sample Moonsilver Tattoo Artifacts and the Lunars whose shapes they flow with.

 **Bloodsight Eye, Moonsilver Tattoo**  
Artifact 2  
Red Jaws' moonsilver eye can see just as well as his other eye - the same shapes and colors enter his vision when both of his eyes are open. But when he closes his real eye, the sight of his moonsilver eye changes to bloodsight. All else, rocks, trees, skin, bone, fades away. People are ropes of cardiovascular tubing in human-shapes, animals much the same. While this sight is not Essence sight, and Red Jaws can still be fooled by supernatural hiding effects, mundane stealth or disguise becomes impossible if he looks at the figure attempting to hide - assuming he has seen his target’s shape enough to recognize them from blood alone.

The Dragon-Blooded do not appear as other folks with this sight. Their veins are, to Red Jaws' eyes, water, sap, sand, clouds or looping fire. This has helped him avoid the Wyld hunt on at least one occasion, as well as evade their scouts before they could spot him. He sees them through intervening vegetation or hills long before he is within their sight. Even when they follow his trail, they simply never catch up or ensnare him, no matter what perimeter they construct. At this point, several Sidereals think Red Jaws is a flaw in the Loom of Fate, perhaps entered there by Luna to send their Dragon-Blooded Wyld hunts into demoralizing, fruitless, cold marches across a section of the Northern Threshold where clearly no Lunar actually resides.

Attunement costs 3 motes, and this attunement is effectively permanent as the moonsilver tattoos prevent any shaping effect that would prevent the flow of Essence from Red Jaws’ soul to powering his Bloodsight Eye. This Artifact has no known Evocations.

 **Chimera’s Collar, Moonsilver Tattoo**  
Artifact 5  
Tamuz, being the Lunar who spoke first and most convincingly for Ma-Ha-Suchi’s adoption into the Silver Pact, used his willingness to place the Moonsilver Tattoos upon him as one of many arguments that swayed the assembled retrieval pack.

Tamuz knew his reputation was then staked upon Ma-Ha-Suchi’s behavior. So as he began to mark his twisted brother, he devised a plan, an impossible plan, audacious and secret. He would chain Ma-Ha-Suchi by his own tattoos, daring to cage one of Luna’s chosen.

Tamuz may, simply by looking at Ma-Ha-Suchi and spending 1 mote per action, control the wolf-goat Lunar’s body through his tattoos. At all times Ma-Ha-Suchi’s mind remains his own, but if Tamuz were to ever exercise the collar’s power, Ma-Ha-Suchi would find his mouth saying the words Tamuz wished, his feet taking him where Tamuz commanded, his Essence refusing to change shape unless Tamuz willed it. The great wolf would be locked out of his own flesh.

No hint of this ability is marked in the Moonsilver whorls of its design. Its stealth is part of what makes the Chimera’s Collar so legendary in execution. A master of artifice and sorcerous workings who has performed the moonsilver tattooing ritual a hundred times would fail to see the implications of this most subtle of Artifacts. It is effectively difficulty 20 to detect on a Perception+Craft (Artifact) roll, though should some brilliant artificer meet this challenge, they would learn its full function. Essence sight shows puppet strings of essence going to and from Ma-Ha-Suchi’s tattoos, granting 5 automatic successes to this roll. But even if Tamuz is present, these strings do not reveal him as the puppetmaster unless he calls upon the collar’s power.

Yet, even more intricate than its hidden nature is its external attunement. Tamuz himself has convinced the tattooes’ Artifact soul that he is their rightful owner and attuner, paying the 4 committed motes to enable the Chimera’s Collar’s fluidity and function for their entire life. All to keep his stratagem hidden. Should Tamuz die before Ma-Ha-Suchi, the Lunar will be locked into whatever posture he held at the moment of Tamuz’ death until he learns to attune to the tattoos holding him in place. This may prove difficult given the Artifact's soul was specifically designed to cage him, though some other unfortunate may walk by and use their Essence to commune with the moonsilver statue...

Tamuz explained away to the retrieval pack the long time it took to craft this Artifact on Ma-Ha-Suchi’s Moonsilver Tattoos as interference from the Wyld taint he had taken on. The other Lunars saw this as only one more bad omen in a string of poor signs. Had Tamuz not completed the tattoos when he did, a coalition might have formed to take Ma-Ha-Suchi’s life with or without Tamuz’ consent. Tamuz has yet to complete an Artifact at the fifth level in as little time as he spent on the Chimera’s Collar.

For all the trouble Tamuz spent creating the Chimera’s Collar, Tamuz has never used its powers. He simply placed it there as a future plan, should he have need of it, just in case. So far, Ma-Ha-Suchi has acted within the generous bounds of acceptable behavior within the Silver Pact. Should Ma-Ha-Suchi step out of line, should he begin to kill his fellow Lunars, should he bring widespread abuse to mortals within his territory, should he otherwise stray from the Silver Way, Tamuz’ centuries-long scheme will either drag him back in line or freeze him until Tamuz wishes otherwise. Ma-Ha-Suchi would likely react with murderous rage if he ever discovered the Chimera’s Collar’s existence. The impotent, powerless rage of the outmaneuvered.

This Artifact has no known Evocations.


	3. Demense, Manse, and Hearthstone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Places of power that shift with their masters.

Lunar Dragon Lines often call on themes of change - necessary change, desired change, destructive change, or just random entropy. The magic within them is flavored by this rejection of the status quo, often passing some change along to those it affects, such as those that are attuned, or those who are within its sphere of influence.

 **Window to Luna’s Sanctum**  
Lunar Demesne 2  
To most appearances, the Window to Luna’s Sanctum resembles a Celestial Gate. Yet, instead of starmetal filigree around an adamant arch, this one has moonsilver. At night, the very wise (Intelligence+Lore difficulty 5) or the very familiar with Luna (Wits+Occult difficulty 3, only attemptable with a Luna specialty in Occult) will recognize either this filigree difference or that the soft moonlight exiting the door mingles with starlight, and thus could not be the result of the Moonlight of Yu-Shan. The heavenly city’s sky holds a lone shining moon when Luna leads the Games of Divinity. They realize it is not a Celestial Gate and must be leading somewhere else, though only by doubling the difficulty do they learn exactly where before entering.

That somewhere else is the surface of the Silver Chair of Night, Luna’s sanctum (see Glories of the Most High: Luna, page 12). 

This Demesne has no harvest, and no known way to attune to it. It has no fixed location, darting about Creation at random. It seems to serve no function other than to allow the Creation-born access to Luna’s madhouse, or for the Truculee to wander off and terrorize someplace before calcifying. When considering Luna’s work, for the sake of one’s sanity, it is best not to dig too far into her motives. 

**Statue to the Perceived Self**  
Lunar Manse 3  
Deep in the Burning Sands lies a Manse that drinks in the cold moonlight of the desert night. In the blistering day, heat shimmers for miles around, bending sight and creating illusions. The Manse is a legend in the South, and even has a common phrase associated with it, “May the Righteous Devil see you as you are.” Some come seeking their true self. Many more shun the place for the truths about themselves they would rather not witness. But most have forgotten it. Just as its owner, Tamuz, prefers.

Any who approach are changed, though only temporarily while within the Manse’s influence, which extends invisibly from the central statue. To any who look upon those so changed, they show themselves in a reflection of their inner mental state, not as they outwardly are. Some within the Manse's magic change their demeanor from calm and collected to anxious and skittish. Some lose their regal bearing and finery, clothed in patches and dirty from an honest day's work, and others undergo the opposite transition. Yet others change their sex or their ethnicity. Some patricians and mortal Dynasts have been known to develop the Aspect markings of their betters. It is all an illusion; any mirror transported within the Manse shows the actual body of the inhabitants - the Manse’s magic does not penetrate reflections.

The Manse has an intelligence to it that only answers the question, “What am I?” to which the Manse will describe yourself as you appear within its boundaries. Most are not ready for the bland declarations the Manse emanates about its residents’ self-image, but Tamuz has acquired a taste for it. He sees it as a calibration, a chance to correct his efforts towards the change he wants to see in himself. Its brutal honesty has worn off on Tamuz, who will occasionally slip into a method of description much like the Manse’s when distracted from his usual social grace. 

The Statue to the Perceived Self Manse is itself a porous non-reflective rock shaped like a regular pentagonal prism, whose top is a sphere about four feet at its thickest. Podium and sphere combine to stand twelve feet tall. At least, most think it is. Some believe the Manse’s magic does alter reflections, but only of itself, and that its true self it hidden from all. Regardless of an attuner’s belief, any who attune to the Manse by placing their hand on this prism or its cap-sphere pull their hand away with a hearthstone, the Sight of Self Stone, made of the same porous rock seemingly materialized from nowhere. Its power is a link to the intelligence of the Manse. The hearthstone owner can ask, “What am I?” to the hearthstone anywhere within Creation or the Wyld and the Manse will describe the attuned being’s residual self image to the best of its ability.

 **Asura**  
Lunar Manse 5  
Forming the heart of the holy city of the same name, the Asura Manse is a relic from another time, channelling Luna’s grace in war and in peace. Rumor states that it was built before the Age of Man, back in the Time of Glory, by unknown hands. Perhaps by Gaia herself. It is a temple to the goddess Luna in her Bloody Huntress aspect. Here she stands, Gaia’s champion, her warrior, her lover, and yet her own self at the same time. More defines Luna than her love for Gaia, far too many things define the false-faced goddess a sane god might whisper, and this is reflected in Asura’s enormous statue of Luna at its center, constructed not of Moonsilver but of the five directional shades of Jade, whose shape changes with the phases of the moon.

In contrast to the three Castes of modern-day Lunars, all five of Luna’s phases are revered here. The Bloody Huntress of the Full Moon first and foremost, then the Silver-Horned Watcher of the Waning Moon, The Walker at the Crossroads of the No Moon, Two Faced Bride of the Half Moon and finally the White Navigator of the Waxing Moon. That this Manse is said to venerate the Bloody Huntress the most is argued from its configuration during Calibration - switching to the Full Moon’s Bloody Huntress form instead of keeping the more appropriate No Moon’s Walker at the Crossroads configuration.

The Manse itself is not near as dynamic as the statue it is built around. In a single-story maze-like circular configuration, rooms radiate from the central circular atrium. One can learn the crazed layout, and it remains that way upon repeat visits, which the leonine beastman tribe that lives there has long since done. The statue can be seen towering over these comparatively small rooms from outside the Manse so long as one is not too close to the outer walls.

A great deal of the Essence is used to grant fluidity to the Jade statue of Luna, but as the Dragon-Lines beneath it are strong, the Asura Manse has enough leftover for other magical feats. First, the atrium is always overgrown with vegetation, and no amount of gardening can tame it. Second, indoor plumbing supplies water and waste removal to every fifth or so room within the Manse. It could be a small closet containing a toilet and sink or an extravagant pool meant for communal bathing. No two such rooms are alike. The leonine beastmen who live there don’t fully appreciate the irony that their ‘barbarian’ ways are more civilized in that regard than most of the world. Third, when an attuned user places their hand on Luna’s statue, they receive a Hearthstone, but what type is unknown until the attuned being is holding it. Many have wondered just _why_ this Manse of Luna’s has no fixed Hearthstone. Does the Manse somehow know what the user will need in the coming years? Does the Hearthstone a user draws highlight some weakness of theirs, some warning, some omen? Is it simply a reflection of Luna’s fickleness not to be predicted? Or perhaps it represents Gaia’s uncountable bounty? Today, it still remains a mystery. Even the great geomancers of the First Age never replicated its varied-Hearthstone feature. 

Previous Hearthstones the Asura Manse has emitted are listed below, and are all effectively 2-dot, minor Hearthstones. Figuring out what a novel Hearthstone does is an Intelligence+Occult roll at difficulty 2. The shiny, hardened, Lunar Essence of their construction rarely makes their power obvious by simply looking at it, so some experimentation as stunts on the roll are quite welcome. 

**Waning Gem** : When an attuned being carries the Waning Gem on their person, their ability to disguise themselves as something smaller than they are is greatly aided. They may effectively shift some of their bulk Elsewhere, appearing shorter, less muscular, thinner, missing limbs, breasts, or any other subtractive detail of a disguise by simply expending the mental effort during a Disguise roll (see 3e Core page 224). Depending on the aims of the disguise, this may increase their roll by 1 die all the way through automatically succeeding, removing the need for a roll entirely.  
**Mealstone** : When an attuned being eats the Mealstone, they are fully fed and watered for as long as the Mealstone sits in their stomach. It never passes farther through their digestion, and takes up all the room there - any other food or drink the imbiber of the Mealstone consumes makes her feel uncomfortably stuffed. When the owner of the Mealstone would like to subsist on regular meals once again, she can force herself to vomit it out.  
**One Level Deeper Prism** : The owner of the One Level Deeper Prism is the bane of strategic thinkers who would use their minds to track or counter her. Whenever another character makes a plan while considering the owner’s actions, such as a strategic warfare roll, a counterspell action, a survival action to track the bearer through the wilderness, or an investigation into the bearer’s prior actions, they suffer -5 dice to that action as they endlessly contemplate how many moves ahead the bearer has planned herself. To her enemies, the bearer is constantly laying false plans and tracks, cycling through spell variations, or devising red herrings for them to find and obsess over. The bearer may or may not think deeply on her strategy at all, but the apparent lack of strategic thought is just one more layer of misdirection to be assessed in the mind of the foe trapped by the One Level Deeper Prism.  
**Guile Mirror** : A bearer of the Guile Mirror, which looks like a small, reflective oval of moonsilver, can misdirect foes she is not even aware of. Whenever another character botches or fails to defeat the Guile of the Guile Mirror’s owner with a read intentions action, the inquisitive character sees her own Intimacies and motives reflected back to her with subjective surety. Owners of the Guile Mirror have been told embarrassing personal stories from all and sundry, approached by conspirators spilling sensitive information whom they have never met, and accosted by the self-hating, some without even understanding the power that lead to these repeated circumstances.  
**High Birth Garnet** : The lowborn are betrayed to their betters in polite company by their terrible manners, uninformed opinions on events of grave importance, and generally ripe smell. The High Birth Garnet can mask each of these and other telltale signs of plebeian status in high society, and grant some measure of understanding regarding the well-to-do. Reduce the social penalties for schmoozing above your station by 2. Further, reduce the Guile of any target of your read intentions actions by 2 when the target has an intimacy regarding their vaulted status in their society. Finally, gain 2 dice when attempting to disguise yourself as part of the local aristocracy, powerful public society, ruling class or family, or other similar denotation of status.

The Asura Manse can power five extant Hearthstones, then one must be destroyed or returned before another can be generated.


	4. Charms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Courage of Luna's Chosen

The Charms of the Changing Moons are slanted towards furthering social ends. But they have quickness in their theme as well, and are no slouches in combat because of it. This Castebook assumes you are working with a Lunar Charmset full of social, shapeshifting, and combat Charms across Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance, and Dexterity (or looking to the Signature Characters appendix for inspiration) so instead of repeating them here, a look at the signature fighting style of the Lunars, Lunar Hero Style, stands in its stead.

Charm Name: Prey’s Skin Disguise  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Manipulation 5, Essence 5  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: Knack  
Duration: Permanent  
Prerequisite Charms: None

Around the fire when out on the Wyld Hunt this Charm is a nightmare story the shikari and amercers tell each other of ancient and noble venerers who slew Anathema with powers not seen for centuries. No common shikari really believes the Silver Anathema can steal human shapes - only those of beasts and terrible, large, Wyld-tainted hybrids. Their Sidereal masters know otherwise, but fear that common knowledge would be devastating to morale.

Prey’s Skin Disguise enhances the Lunar's sacred hunt, allowing the consumption of human hearts to steal their shapes. It can be a truly horrifying experience for some Lunars to stoop to cannibalism in the name of power.

But among the Silver Pact the Prey’s Skin disguise is seen as simply too useful to be squeamish about. Once a Lunar attains a certain age, the truly elder Lunars will pressure her to take on the study of this Charm. Some out of true concern about the capabilities of the younger Lunar, others out of a well-placed fear to be misunderstood about their own motivations for learning the Charm. Most elders feel that once you walk the world of man in another man’s skin, the possibilities are worth the costs, and lament that it takes so long for most Lunars to develop the ability. Although, among the Changing Moons there is the usual once in a generation prodigy who masters it at a young age. 

If the Lunar whose age has come has not focused on their social ability to mislead others, the elders play tricks and mind games on the younger Lunar to encourage her manipulative development. An entire epic poem in the oral history is devoted to this practice, and each time it is used the reciter is encouraged to add another verse so that the merely perceptive who have heard the poem told before have new challenges to sharpen themselves against.

Charm Name: Body of the Swarm  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Manipulation 2, Essence 2  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: Knack  
Duration: Permanent  
Prerequisite Charms: Humble Mouse Shape

This Charm enhances the Lunar's sacred hunt, allowing the Lunar to target beings whose existence is tied in communal harmony with their kin, and once complete, to take the form of the hive creatures that live that existence. The Lunar must study the swarm she wishes to capture in her shapes library, eating every type from worker to warrior, from fertile male to infertile female, always ending with consuming the body of the queen and all of her royal jelly.

Once the hunt is complete, the Lunar may become a thousand such small beasts, ants or bees or stranger yet, to fit through small cracks in a procession, or to gain advantage in combat. While in this form piercing attacks do not reduce the Lunar’s soak, they instead increase it. Other attacks made by or against the Lunar are unmodified, though any attempt by the Lunar to use any human-sized weaponry automatically fails.

The Lunar may choose to reform as another shape starting from any of the thousand members of the Swarm. The rest crawl into nearby crevasses, fly off into the air, or simply fade away in a non-obvious retreat.

 **Lunar Hero Style**  
The Lunar Hero is the primal release of uncaged might, darting hawk’s speed overwhelming the mouse, and cunning hunter trapping her prey all at once. Practitioners speak of losing higher thought when completely giving themselves to the Lunar Hero Form and the Terrible Wolverine Onslaught, letting instinctual brilliance shine forth without the encumbrance of contemplation. For Lunars, this Style can be learned with their native Dexterity, Strength, and Stamina Attributes. For everyone else, they must have the Martial Arts Merit and learn a new ability: Martial Arts (Lunar Hero) - as a further prerequisite. Any Attribute minimums in the below Charms require Martial Arts (Lunar Hero) of the same level for non-Lunars, and the Charm still requires the listed Attribute. 

Lunar Hero style recognizes no Masters, and it is just as potent empowering the limbs of a Terrestrial practitioner. Raw ability matters, not your station. That said, Lunars are typically the best suited to enter combat with no or little gear as their natural weapons and resistances are easily augmented by their native Charms and forms. Lunars also often benefit from combining the animal prowess of the Lunar Hero Style with actual animal forms they take on, creating mice who can shake the earth with one tiny paw, yeddim who can grapple faster than a constricting snake, and birds whose hollow bones can withstand savage blows while still being light enough to fly. So long as the Lunar Hero is not encumbered by armor and not using a weapon other than tiger or razor claws, she may utilize these Charms regardless of what shape she has assumed.

This style is not listed in its entirety below. As Luna is ever-changing, so are the ways to express her chosen’s method of combat. Charms are forgotten, rediscovered, and invented for this style with such frequency that there are few Lunar Heroes who know exactly the same two set of Charms, even among students of the same master. Below is Lilith’s interpretation of what it means to be a Lunar Hero.

Style Weapons: Unarmed, tiger/razor claws  
Style Armor: Unarmored only

Charm Name: Foot Trapping Counter  
Cost: 8m, 1wp  
Minimums: Dexterity 2, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Obvious  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Charms: None

The fight is over when the Lunar Hero says it is over. No prey escapes so long as the Lunar Hero wills it. As an enemy attempts to disengage, the Lunar’s limbs or body flashes silver and she interposes herself in the path of her opponent(s), often tripping them with trapped feet in the process. Her Dexterity+Athletics roll to oppose the disengage automatically succeeds. Instead, compare the Lunar Hero’s Dexterity+Athletics successes against the opponent’s Dexterity+Dodge - if the Lunar Hero has more successes, the opponent falls prone (see 3e Core page 198).

Charm Name: Rabid Beast Attitude  
Cost: 1m  
Minimums: Stamina 2, Essence 1  
Type: Reflexive  
Keywords: None  
Duration: One action  
Pre-requisites: Foot Trapping Counter

The Lunar Hero does not feel pain if she spares the smallest thought to ignore it. When activating Rabid Beast Attitude, the Lunar Hero does not suffer from wound penalties until her next action.

Charm Name: Thousand Claw Infliction  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Dexterity 3, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Dual  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Charms: Foot Trapping Counter

When a Lunar Hero invokes the Thousand Claw Infliction, her swipes, kicks, and bites overwhelm the prey’s defenses. Opponents shield against a kick only to be bitten, they parry claws from one limb only to be rended by the next. Attacks supplemented with this Charm impose an onslaught penalty of the Lunar’s Essence that stacks with any other onslaught penalty their prey were already suffering from. This penalty, in contrast with normal onslaught penalties, is applied to the opponent’s Defense for the supplemented attack. However, only the normal onslaught penalty (usually 1) persists from the result of the Lunar’s attack even when supplemented by this Charm.

Charm Name: Lunar Hero Form  
Cost: 5m, 1wp  
Minimums: Strength 3 or Dexterity 3 or Stamina 3, Essence 2  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Form, (Sometimes Decisive-Only, Sometimes Dual)  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisite Charms: Rabid Beast Attitude, Thousand Claw Infliction

The endlessly fluid nature of Luna’s thousand faces infuses the Lunar Hero who dons this form, each of them hungry for prey or eager to repel predators. When the Lunar learns this Charm they emulate a beast, gaining it’s nature and ability to kill or defend itself. This is as close to shapeshifting as many non-Lunars will ever come. Lunars often choose their spirit shape for closer communion with Luna, at least to start, but any beast is applicable. This Charm may be repurchased Essence times, each repurchase requiring the minimum Attribute listed, and each expanding the practitioner’s library of abilities - but only 1 may be activated when they enter Lunar Hero Form. The active ability may be exchanged with one in the Lunar Hero’s library using a reflexive action and 5 motes once Lunar Hero Form is active. Some example abilities, all of which enhance or resist Decisive blows (sometimes also Withering, denoted by Dual) in reverence of Luna’s will to hunt and survive, are listed below:

Offensive:  
Earth-Shaking Behemoth (Strength): Emulating the stomp attacks giant boars or other hooved beasts, this ability allows the Lunar Hero to create a shockwave when she successfully lands a Decisive strike roll, forcing all characters touching the ground in medium range to roll (Dexterity + Athletics) against a difficulty of the Lunar’s Essence or fall prone.

Inevitable Grasp (Dexterity): Emulating spiders, crabs, and constricting snakes who trap and crush their prey, this ability allows the Lunar Hero to add their Essence to their Initiative dice to roll for a successful grapple gambit after the Decisive strike roll for that gambit has succeeded.

Death Dive (Dexterity): Emulating the eagle, the hawk, and the tree-hunting cat, this ability allows the Lunar Hero to supplement a killing dive on her target. When dropping from at least one range band above their target and making a decisive attack, she may add four dice to the strike roll and apply double 10’s to the damage roll. 

Apex Predator (Dual, Strength): The Lunar Hero revels in her spot atop the food chain. Emulating the tyrant lizard, the orca, or the simhata, she regains one Willpower every time she crashes or incapacitates a non-trivial opponent. 

Defensive:  
Invincible God-Beast Hide (Dual, Stamina): Emulating the aurochs, the yeddim, or the bear, the Lunar Hero invokes their protective hides in a flash between her opponent’s strike and her hardened body. The Lunar Hero gains her Essence in natural soak vs. withering attacks and may pay 1wp to reduce a single decisive attack’s raw damage by her soak rating. Compare the new, reduced decisive raw damage against the Lunar Hero’s Hardness, if applicable.

Hardened Shell Superiority (Stamina): Emulating the pestletail, the turtle, or the snail the Lunar Hero creates a spiritual barrier between her body and incoming harm as hard as any beast’s shell. The Lunar Hero gains Hardness equal to her Essence, and compares her Hardness to the *rolled* damage of Decisive blows, not the *raw* damage. 

Charm Name: Armor-Rending Claw-Fist  
Cost: 4m  
Minimums: Strength 4, Essence 2  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Withering-only  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Charms: Lunar Hero Form

The Lunar Hero enters battle with her body and her wits against the helms and armor of her foes. No matter. Their plate and their chain will not save them when the Lunar Hero’s feet and fists become Luna’s ideal claw. When supplementing an attack by the Lunar Hero, the Armor-Rending Claw-Fist ignores 4 points of Soak from armor and also ignores the Lunar’s Essence of her target’s natural Soak. This is superior to and cannot stack with the Pierce tag’s ability, should the Lunar Hero somehow have natural weapons or tiger/razor claws that have that tag.

Charm Name: Crouching Tiger Stance  
Cost: 7m  
Minimums: Dexterity 4, Essence 2  
Type: Reflexive  
Keywords: Counterattack  
Duration: One action  
Prerequisite Charms: Armor-Rending Claw-Fist

The Lunar Hero is an angry tiger in this stance, agitated, slippery, and easily provoked. While Crouching Tiger Stance is active, all attacks against the Lunar Hero suffer a 2 die penalty, further, the Lunar Hero may counterattack against any foe she *successfully* Evades or Parries.

Crouching Tiger Stance does not count as the Exalt’s combat action and cannot be used in response to another counterattack.

Charm Name: Den Mother Method  
Cost: 2m  
Minimums: Stamina 3, Essence 2  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisite Charms: Lunar Hero Form

The mother guarding her young always has their safety on her mind. To a Lunar Hero emulating this mindset of the mother, she can impose herself between her cub and the enemy while striking back with her full fury. The Lunar Hero may supplement a defend other action to protect an ally within close range with the commitment of the Den Mother Method. This extends her Defend Other duration to a full scene, leaving her free to attack on later actions, but only applies while the Lunar Hero and her charge are close to one another; it is cancelled if she moves out of close range. The Lunar Hero must drop her commitment to this Charm to defend a different character.

Charm Name: Running Through the Herd  
Cost: 10m  
Minimums: Dexterity 4, Essence 2  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisite Charms: Den Mother Method

The Lunar Hero who runs through the herd is a rhino among meerkats, she is an ape among ants, she is a shark among minnows, she is a crow among insects. She laughs at their feeble attacks, cancelling the advantage of their numbers with her bulk and brute strength, or her quickness and misdirection. While this Charm is active, the Lunar may ignore any bonuses granted from her opponents’ Size or Drill on attacks made by her or against her. She never treats terrain as difficult terrain due to an opposing battlegroup. Any battlegroup she is in close range of must take a Disengage action to flee from her regardless of Size. Lastly, she does not take onslaught penalties from attacks launched by battlegroups.

Charm Name: Terrible Wolverine Onslaught  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Dexterity 5, Essence 3  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords:  
Duration: All battle scenes  
Prerequisite Charms: Running Through the Herd, Crouching Tiger Stance

The hunt, the fight, the kill, the will to survive. When a Lunar Hero joins battle, these instincts take over, uplifting her into a killing beast terrifying to her foes. As the first benefit of the Terrible Wolverine Onslaught, Lunar Hero Form may be activated reflexively and simultaneously with Join Battle by practitioners who have embraced the Terrible Wolverine Onslaught. As the second benefit, the Lunar Hero who has mastered the Terrible Wolverine Onslaught does not take flurry penalties or lower her Defense due to flurry penalties when her flurry contains an attack - the will to attack is spine-deep. Third, when she lands a Decisive attack in this bloodlust, her base Initiative is increased by the amount of health levels she inflicted with her attack. Finally, the Lunar Hero may not delay her action or take actions that cost Initiative such as Full Defense, Piercing/Smashing attacks, or Disengage/Withdraw (Decisive attacks are the only exception) - all of her advantage is marked for the kill.

The Lunar Hero who knows Terrible Wolverine Onslaught can attempt to resist and keep her full mental capacity available (eschewing all benefits and limitations of Terrible Wolverine Onslaught) by succeeding on a Willpower roll at a difficulty of 1+her current wound penalty either concurrent with Join Battle or at the start of her action, reflexively. Once this control is gained, to retain it she must re-roll this check every time she takes at least one health level of damage. She does so by convincing her inner beast that she is no danger and there is nothing to trigger her fight response. She may drop this mental resistance at any time, letting her instincts run free; when she does so she may reflexively activate Lunar Hero Form.


End file.
